U.S.
Justice Department asks for stay to allow immigration action
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[February 24, 2015]
By Julia Edwards and Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice
Department on Monday argued that halting President Barack Obama's
executive actions on immigration from taking effect threatens national
security, in a request for an emergency stay to put on hold a Texas
judge's decision that temporarily blocked the actions.
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The Department of Homeland Security would sustain "irreparable
harm" if a stay is not granted, the Justice Department argued in its
request.
The Obama administration is using a similar argument to push
Congressional Republicans to fund the Department of Homeland
Security, which they have threatened to shut down in order to block
the immigration action.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a court order last week to
halt the immigration actions, which would grant temporary relief
from deportation for 4.7 million people who are in the United States
illegally.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the stalled immigration
program would hold undocumented immigrants accountable for following
the law and paying taxes rather than living in the shadows and
effectively receiving amnesty for illegally crossing the border.
"Based on the judge's ruling, we're actually moving farther in the
direction of amnesty," Earnest said on Monday.
The Obama administration is also giving Hanen, who must approve the
stay, an alternative of issuing a stay for every state but Texas,
which he ruled would be harmed by the action, according to the court
filing.
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Officials also filed an appeal on Monday to the Fifth Circuit Court
of Appeals.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards and Emily Stephenson, additional
reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Susan Heavey and Lisa
Lambert)
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